


All-American Attic

by wiltedneck



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Family, Villanelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-08
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 15:39:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2737877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiltedneck/pseuds/wiltedneck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We look like the All-American family; 2.5 kids, a dog, everyone seems successful and happy... so why an attic? Well maybe we're not as picture perfect as our house would suggest. Maybe there's some skeletons in the closet, and cobwebs in the basement... but here I'll show you my family's attic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All-American Attic

Our family is a cracked attic, slapdash and drafty.  
A breeze barrels through and we feel it, each only  
in our joints. I am parallel to the beam of my brother.

My brother never beams. Sometimes he looks halfway  
to self-satisfied, but then he opens his eyes and groans:  
our family is a cracked attic, slapdash and drafty.

My mother disdains displays of affection. She blames  
her mother. How many women precipitated the chill  
in my joints? She hovers, polished shingles facing out.

My father is an idea. Through his lumber I see that  
we should be solar panels and dug into the south side  
of a hill instead of a cracked attic, slapdash and drafty.

When we invite a friend up the ladder, they compliment  
our family’s tree—until their radiant light throws into relief   
our musty joints. Then they’ll breathe carefully, suddenly

aware of our rotting, tenuous architecture. Carefully,  
again, they recede. Their withdrawal hollows  
our family’s cracked attic once again. They do 

not return because there are no renovations  
or retrofits for this slapdash, undated model.   
We cracked atop a home, drafting memories,  
sharing a joint occupation, for a while.


End file.
